


Temporal Crossroads

by Unofficialshippingtrash



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Crossing Timelines, F/M, Fluff and Angst, I just wanted to make this because I thought it was cool, There's nothing really deep here, Twin Byleth AU, there needs to be more m!byleth/edelgard stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2019-10-08
Packaged: 2020-11-27 23:41:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20956871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unofficialshippingtrash/pseuds/Unofficialshippingtrash
Summary: Sothis could easily rewind time with her power. Why not bring different histories together?





	Temporal Crossroads

It all started on a whim at first.

Edelgard merely felt nostalgic, and visited what originally was the holy tomb, now just a reminder of where her professor stood his ground and refused to yield to Rhea's demands that he kill his student without even allowing him to ask about her motivations.

They most certainly didn't expect a bright flash of light to consume their vision, and where once there was naught but the two of them, there now existed the confirmed deceased King Dimitri and her professor's sister Belial, who perished alongside the king of delusion.

Indeed, at first Edelgard was baffled at the notion that in actuality, Dimitri had slain her along with Byleth during a last stand they both made at Enbarr. But as she started to look at Dimitri more closely beyond the obvious eyepatch that did not exist in their last encounter, the facts began to add up.

Dimitri lacked the restless bags under his eyes that showed how broken he was, nor did he have his usual glare of hatred towards almost everything. He looked somewhat well rested, and his cheeks had some healthy colour.

The king of Faerghus noticed similar discrepancies in his step sister's appearance as well. No more was the ice cold gaze that betrayed no emotion, gone was the hand hovering close to a hidden weapon. And of course, she had changed her hairstyle to a side ponytail as opposed the the buns he had seen prior.

It didn't take a genius to work out that both of them had come from alternate histories. But how could such a thing be possible? Well, if what Byleth and Belial had told them about the powers of Sothis was true, the ability to turn back time was easy enough for her already. Why not bring two different possible timelines together?

* * *

It was surreal talking to his step sister again. Two years had passed, but it felt that just a few hours ago, Dimitri was talking to his fallen sibling and offered his hand before having it cruelly shoved away.

How do you even converse with someone you abruptly stabbed?

"Dimitri, I um…"

"Oh uh, please go ahead."

"Are you sure? I mean-"

"No please. You look like you have a lot to say."

Edelgard took a deep breath in.

"Looking at you is difficult. No matter how different you appear in ways both subtle and obvious, all I see is a man who cursed me with his dying breath and had hatred emerging from his very being."

Dimitri couldn't hide his flinch. He expected that without Belial learning of the depths of his hatred at the holy tomb, she wouldn't be able to pull him from the darkness he was trapped in. But even still, it was hard to swallow.

He allowed Dedue and several soldiers under his command to transform into Demonic Beasts? Was his heart so blackened that he didn't so much as flinch at personal loss? He opposed Edelgard partially due to his distaste of her tactics that treated lives abs disposable tools, yet her Dimitri stooped to such levels?

"...I cannot lie. Hearing you say that fills me with indignation. I want to protest, claim that I would never stoop so low. But I can't speak for your Dimitri. I was never in his position and I could never understood how he felt standing on the Tailteann plains." Dimitri forced the words out.

Edelgard shook her head. "We should move on to more lighthearted topics. I have no further desire to discuss fratricide," She paused to clear her throat. "How does Faerghus fare under the new King Dimitri?"

Dimitri released a breath he didn't know he was holding as he chuckled.

"It's hectic. A monarch will rarely have a moment to themselves normally, let alone when they are in charge of rebuilding a war-torn world. But I'm able to manage thanks to everyone's support."

He fondly recalls watching Felix bark orders to new knights in training, molding them into exceptional warriors and trying to maintain his contempt for the king, with limited success. Ingrid leading a squadron of pegasi across the sky on their way back from upholding order and justice. Even Sylvain had culled his philandering in order to help the kingdom.

"I know the feeling," Edelgard sighs as she leans back. "I sometimes tell Hubert to just tell everyone to go away for a few hours so I can just gorge myself on sweets or paint something."

"What?!" Dimitri exclaimed his disbelief. "The mighty Empress of Adrestia has a sweet tooth? Surely you jest!"

Edelgard merely groaned in response. "Ugh, you're just like Byleth. He teased me relentlessly when I told him about my hidden desires. Is it really so silly for me to want moments of levity?"

"Well no, it's just that," Dimitri fought to suppress his snickering "You sort of have an image of an iron willed emperor that is all serious business, but you have this childish side that… just…"

He couldn't help it. He broke into a full on laughing fit.

"Oh come on! Is my projected image really that poor? Hey! Dimitri! Stop laughing this instant!"

* * *

Meanwhile, a similarly awkward silence was taking place between two siblings.

They'd stuck to their path until the end. They had unshakeable faith in their students. Supported them until the end. But without crucial knowledge of their motivations, learned from the very holy tomb they sat in, they didn't know what to do to guide their house leaders back into the light.

Without Byleth showing Edelgard an act of pure loyalty even when it was to his disadvantage, how would she ever consider the values of restraint and mercy? And without seeing first hand how badly Dimitri was haunted by his demons, how could Belial ever know just how much he was suffering under the mask of sanity he wore?

It was in that moment that Byleth truly understood how powerful the smallest changes were. If it wasn't for him receiving the power of Sothis and being witness to Edelgard's unmasking, he would be the fool that blindly followed the empress of Adrestia to his early grave.

Deciding that words were ineffective here, Byleth settled for the alternative.

Without a word, he threw his arms around his thought to be deceased sister and squeezed out of fear that if he ever let go, she would vanish again.

With only slight hesitation, Belial returned the gesture.

"I'm so glad that killing you wasn't the last memory I had of you."

Byleth blinked the water in his eyes away.

"...Yeah. I-I missed you."

And unable to revert to their stoic personas, the twins collapsed in each other's arms.

It felt like millenia passed by while the pair held on tight, unwilling to chance that this meeting might just be a pleasant dream.

However, soon their tears dried and the most obvious matter was brought up; their differing hair colour.

"It's weird. I don't have her power anymore, but she's still with me."

Byleth had begun explaining his state despite his similar circumstances with Belial. How after striking The Immaculate One down, he had collapsed and woke up looking more human than he had in years.

"How's that work?" Belial asked.

Byleth simply shrugged. "I dunno. Ask Sothis. Maybe the spell that stuck the creststone to my heart was tied to Rhea's life or something."

Belial took the information in with great confusion and many questions. How did Byleth feel without the power he- no, they held inside them for their whole lives? The powers she held hadn't been used in earnest since the war ended. She wasn't particularly attached to them per say, but the thought of losing something so integral to her identity was unsettling.

"I don't really feel too different to be honest. Sothis still chimes in from time to time to nag me about staying up too late or tease me when I'm doing something romantic for Edelgard. The hair is all the change I can notice to be honest."

Belial snorted. "I'm not going to turn into a dragon or something because I've had a god living in my brain for years longer than you have, right?"

"I dunno. Can you breathe fire yet?"

"My words are often described as being scathing. Is that close enough?"

"Have they killed someone yet?"

"They might be about to kill you if you don't write a detailed report about why Fódlan should worship me."

"Sorry, but there's not nearly enough material there for a sentence, let alone several pages."

And so the twins began bickering like old times, as though the tragedy had never happened.

* * *

Further investigation yielded the exact mechanics of what had happened. It appeared as though the throne of Sothis herself could serve as a gateway to alternate timelines, provided one desired to view an alternate history. Hence the accidental temporal crossover, a yearning for the family they had lost ended up bringing the two pairs together.

Of course, both parties would never be content with mere visits. In time, others were brought through time and space to see old companions thought to be dead.

Though many were obviously disappointed to find their counterpart dead or missing, those who both survived expressed mixed reactions.

Felix and Ingrid were certainly surprised to see they had survived in both timelines. However, as expected, Edelgard's Felix still held hostility towards Dimitri. No matter what he was told, he could never see him as anything except the Boar Prince that killed for sport and enjoyment. He recalled word for word the vile words his Dimitri spewed at him during their battle on the Tailteann Plains as he was forced to put his old friend down.

Yet deep down, all involved knew the truth. Felix couldn't stand to be reminded of the past, and of the dear friends he lost.

Sylvain was the only member of Dimitri's childhood friends to be unaccounted for on both sides. The reason remained unspoken. Ingrid did not want to recall how their legendary lances clashed and rendered the very air around them near unbreathable, before Lúin buried itself in his chest.

Yet not once did the red haired flirt show resentment. He merely expressed his relief to see two of his friends had survived.

Both Ingrids weren't reassured at all. He always was good at concealing his hatred of crests and the nobility after all.

Caspar was surprised to see himself willing to face off against his father of all people. Even more so when he revealed he was in possession of the Scythe of Sariel, a truly one of a kind weapon. Unsurprisingly, a fight between the two broke out.

Dimitri's Lysithea was at first merely neutral to her alternate self… until she saw more closely how much healthier she looked. The bags under her eyes were gone, her cheeks had more colour in them, even her hair looked less tainted than she remembered. When she learned that her counterpart had learned about the possibility of removing her crests, her heart practically leaped. She wasted no time tracking Linhardt down, and having both him and her Hanneman work on a solution to her short lifespan.

Shamir took to having multiple versions of herself surprisingly easily. Likely because each knew what the other must have thought. Dimitri's Shamir did not hold a grudge to Edelgard's for abandoning the church. It wasn't like she stuck around because she liked the church, she just couldn't abandon Belial after how much she'd done. Even as she mentioned killing her long time partner Catherine, there was no animosity. After all, why hold a grudge? It's not like they can unmake the other's decisions.

Still, even among a sea of reunions, the happiest individuals were the ones that first met and reunited.

Sitting in a secluded area of Garreg Mach, where Byleth and Belial both often invited others to tea parties away from the troubles of the world, the four siblings sat around and whiled the day away with small talk and personal stories.

After all, they had regained something more valuable than lifespan, a lost comrade or even just closure.

They had regained a family.

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact: I came up with the idea for this fic while replaying Tales of Xillia 2 because I really loved that game and how it used Fractured Dimensions as a way to basically explore a bunch of fanfic AUs and how they'd interact with the canon timeline. 
> 
> So then I came up with this idea based on that. The title of this story is even based on the name of one of the locations in the game. That and it just sounds cool.
> 
> Anywho, I've been thinking about writing stuff for the Fate series next. Even though there isn't a lot of fanfic content for the franchise, I still want to give it a shot because I want to proclaim my love for this rather niche franchise, nd especially my love for Scathach and the Jeannes. But I digress. (though come to think of it, aren't Dimitri and Shirou similar characters? Hmm.)
> 
> Thank you for taking the time to read about this nerd screaming into the void and hoping for a response!


End file.
